AGRICULTURAL AFFAIRS.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 129, 27 November 1909, Page 12

AGRICULTURAL AFFAIRS.

•DIGESTIBILITY OF SILAGE. With regard to the question of the digestibility of silago (that excellent winter food) as against that of the original crop from which it is produced, it is generally recognised, according to a note by Profeesora Guthrio and Ramsay, in the Government agricultural publication of New South Wales, that it is about the same as that of the dried fodder (hay), both silage and hay being slightly less digeßtible than the original green fodder. This lower digestibility i 8 cot due to any actual increase of indigestible materia.l, but to the fact that there is always a considerable losa in the conversion of the green crop into ' hay or Bilage (apart from the loss of water), and that this loss chiefly consists of sugar and similar soluble substances, which, are wholly digestible. A loss of as high as 20 per cent, of material is possible in the conversion of green crop into silage, and the material so lost is for the most part the digestible portion of the fodder. On the whole, there is less loss of material when the crop is converted into ailagt. than in the case of field-oured 1 crops, and the Bib-ge, if properly prepared, is much more succulent and palatable to etqpk. If the fodder in drying is exposed to rain, a very considerable loss of material results, whereas in tho conversion in^o silage such conditions can bo avoided. The farmers of Canada (says a Canadian paper) have done very well this year. It is estimated that for cereals alone they will receive about £20,000,000 more than they secured last year. The wheat yield and tho yields of oats and barley have all been increased. But it is not by Eelling 1 the raw grain as it coinea from the thresher or from the fanning mill that the most money is to be made. The wise farmer endeavours as far as possible to turn his grain into meat or dairy products and thus save the plant-food for the soil. This is profitable for two reasons— (1) When fed to well-bred and thrifty animals the returns from each bushol of grain are larger than when sold in the raw etate ; and (2) when tho farmer feeds animals and sells tho finished product in the form of I beef, pork, mutton, poultry, eggs, dairy products, etc., he is not selling his capital, but is disposing of the results of _ his skill. Ho is not selling crude materials, but the manufactured articles. He is not destroying the fertility of his soil, but has the farm manure to return to his fields. When the farmers of Canada are able to turn tho major portion of their _ cereal crop into animal products they will find that agriculture is a far mere profitable business than they judge it to be to-day. Some oC the early-sown crops are already coming into ear in different parts of South Canterbury. Several crops on the Aihburton Plains are also partly out in' ear. The North Otago Times reports that an Oamaru flockowner, who has finished shearing, has received an offer of Is per Ib for his fleece wool, and lOd per Ib for pieces. A Brydone settler, Mr. R. Craig, who is at present milking twenty-seven cows (says the Mataura Ensign), possesses rather a notable one. She is of the Ayrshire breed, is seventeen years old, and has given birth to fourteen calves. When still a heifer, fourteen days before calving she gave three buckets of milk daily, and before calving this season she had to be milked three times a day, and is now yielding eight gallons of milk daily. This animal alone brings in a monthly feturn of £4 10s, and Mr. Craig cays that she is one of the best cows he has ever possessed. A certain remedy for destroying slugs is often asked for. Slaked lime is on,o of the very best. This should be applied when the weather is moisi. Salt is another cure ; but sometimes it is hurtful to plants. Soot is a splendid remedy, but is not so easily applied nor so easily procured. Perhaps the very best, and certainly the easiest of application,' is a solution of liquid ammonia, used for washing purposes, diluted in water, about one in ten. This solution may be applied with a watering can, and if applied two or three times, at intervals of three or four days, it will bo found the most effectual of all elug killers. No harm will be done to the plants; in fact, those which are soft growing, such as cabbage, peas, beans and lettuce, will be stimulated to increased growth. A cheap and _ simple cure also recommended is a coating of sand on tho soil ; th 6 elugs cannot travel over it, as it sticks to "them. Last year at Eltham, heifer-calves were worth 17s 6d; now they can get £2 10s. Then, pigs wo realising £1 that were tot worth more than 6s last year. A Waikato paper says that the dairying industry in the Cambridge district during the past six years has grown from practically nothing until it has become the mainstay of prosperity. The phenomenal growth of pasture right throughout the present year has been the dairyman's opportunity, and with more cows composing, their herds, their cheques have been bigger. Last month was the best October that tho suppliers to tho Cambridge Cooperative Dairy Company have yet had, tho butter output at tho centra) factory for the month being 137,5301b, representing a value of £6400, about £5000 of which will be paid out to local suppliers on Saturday r.ext. Tho month's output represents an increase of about 20 per cent, over tho corresponding period last year. The dairy factories of Southland aro \Vorking at full pressure, and in some cases the capacity of tho plant is scarcely cap able of meeting the demandß made upon it (saya the Daily News). Grass was never, perhaps, mere plentiful than it now is, ivhich has resulted in larger yields of milk per cow, but this only in a measure_ accounts for the increased faupply, graziers adding to thoir herds whenever suitable animals ara offering. Tho extent to whirJi dairying has token the place of sheep _ raising and oat growing in Southland is surprising, especially when it is considered that th.3 industry has been mainly developed within the past few year*. Masterton is said to possess the most productive apiary in Australasia. It is expected thia season to 'eclipse last year's output by 27 tons of honey. Owing to the heavy stocks on hand and a variety of other causes it is anticipated there will be a considerable drop in the market rate for pigs, especially baconers, so the Stratford Post is informed by tho representative of a big bacon concern. A local resident, says the Taranaki Daily News, claims to have discovered a new and unfailing euro and preventive of potato blight, and the mixture he recommends is worth stating, if only for its novelty. It is nothing more than a decoction of dock roots. Ho has found that the water in which these roots have been boiled arrests tho progress of the blight Last year the only rows of potatoes ho i saved were those ho sprayed with the.mixture, and already this season he has proved its valuo in a crop where the blight has just made its appearance. A number of gardeners in his neighbourhood are trying the mixture. It is thought that the bitterness of the dock root has something to do with its service. If this is so, it opens the way for further experiment with substances of pronounced bitter qualities.

Extremes meet in two new editions of the Rubaiyat. The one from the publishing house of G. G. Haarop, is one of tho most beautiful reprints of Omar that has hitherto been attempted. It's price is 10s 6d net. The other is the least pretentious of all the editions, and it is published by A. Broadbent, of Manchester, at one penny. Mr. Broadbent's little twenty-three page pamphlet is for every man, states the Chronicle. And he who would refuse to spend a penny to enter upon first possession of this poem is hopeless. A gem the like of which was unknown to Shakespeare, undreamed of by Wordsworth, reprinted, a hundred and one stanzas, for the price of a cigarette! Surely of the reading of this book there ought to be- no end.